Hi all, anyone know what eccocardiograms are like? How long do they take? Should I wear anything special to the exam? What should I expect? thanks, Sarahtales about 30 minutes, you'll be lying on your side and back. You'll have to take your top and bra off. Totally painless. Its kind of cool to watch the blood move in and out of the heart as its pumping.
Yeah, buckeye is right. It's no big deal. It's like having an EKG and an ultrasound at the same time.
I had one to look at my leaky valves, it was interesting to see the blood going through my heart and I kept after the technician until he said they looked okay to him, which they were, whew.Yeah...it is simple. No Stress at all...I like to hear my heartbeat...it is amazing how the body works.
I have MVP so they check my heart to make sure my valves are ok.
Just be prepared for everything to be "normal" - its the linings around the heart, not the heart itself that is diseased by autoimmune.There's different kinds of echo cardiograms. One of them is just like what has been described. I've had that one and it's no big deal. It's a resting one. Plus I've had the stress one too. They put the electrodes on you and take a resting one first. Then they have you get on a treadmill and you walk on the treadmill to raise the heart rate. All of this time they're doing a EKG on you. After getting your rate up, they have you rest on the table as they do the echo part. This gives them a very good idea as to how well your heart is working at rest and stressed.
Mine was okay and the only bad thing was cleaning off the goo from the placing of the electrodes.
I hope that you get good results and just remember to wear a top that's easy to get out of and pants that are comfortable and shoes that you can walk in.
Dear folks, after 'the tests' I went through with my 'heart valve' (they wanted to be sure what I had was what they thought it was!! Well, how many tests is enough(>>>?) sorry another subject!!)........
Oh it was so easy, thanks for the replies , I felt prepared! Talked about golf with the 'nurse' who ran the machine....she did hear my heart skip a beat though???We'll see.
Sarah
Sarah I am glad it wentwell, I have been going through this all with my mom she had her aorta valve replaced about 2 and half weeks ago with a new tissue valve. She was always comfrotabl when they idid tests and they even had the goo warm for her when they put it on he so she did fell shocked from it being cold. meme